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Oscar-winning director Sharmeen Obaid Chinoy shared some reflections on life and the paths we take, as well as some exciting news about the path ahead of her.

“I’ve been thinking a lot about the lives we lead, the yellow brick roads we build for ourselves, and the detours life asks us to take,” she wrote in an Instagram post on Sunday. “Some are expected. Others arrive completely out of the blue. But each one has a way of shaping us and leading us exactly where we’re meant to be.”

Commenting on the photograph she shared with the post, she said it was taken after she had just stepped off the stage at Brilliant Minds after doing something she hadn’t done in a long time: interviewing someone. “It felt like returning to my roots, to the place where my journey as a storyteller first began,” she said.

“This year, every project I’ve begun has brought me back to why I became a storyteller in the first place,” Chinoy said.

“There’s so much I’m excited to share. A film fund that will champion new voices. A residency built around ideas and creative exchange. And new characters I’m nurturing, who will soon find their way into the world,” she said.

Her Neela Asmaan project is currently calling for applicants for its new climate futures residency. Patakha Pictures, a part of Chinoy’s SOC Films, provides grants for young filmmakers to work in Pakistan.

“Sometimes, the path forward isn’t about discovering something new. It’s about finding your way back to yourself. What’s coming next feels a lot like that,” she wrote, ending on a hopeful note.